International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has been called upon to renew support for rural development. The call is coming on the heels of earlier robust international support for rural farmers in developing countries. The president of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, made the appeal Wednesday at the 33rd session of the governing council, the annual meeting of IFAD.
In his remarks, President Napolitano stated that IFAD had been an active and coherent actor in implementing efforts of the international community to support small farmers, especially women. He highlighted the challenges facing smallholders, who are too often affected by rules that regulate the access of their products to international markets. “On one hand, IFAD is called upon today to pay renewed attention to rural development, which has always been its main goal,” President Napolitano urged. “On the other hand, it has to face the pressing current problems, such as the impact of climate change on agriculture and food security.”
In a message to the council, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, acknowledged an upturn in investment in agriculture in 2009 despite the hardships of global recession. But he noted that with one billion hungry people in the world, there was no time to lose. “The food emergency in the Horn of Africa, plight of the population of Haiti, and the early warnings coming from other parts of the world, remind us that our actions for food security must be both comprehensive and sustained,” he asserted. The governing council is IFAD’s highest decision-making body. The annual meeting, held for the first time at the Fund’s Rome headquarters, included a plenary panel from summit resolutions to farmers’ fields; climate change, food security and smallholder agriculture. The panel was moderated by CNN anchor Jim Clancy.
Agriculture is the backbone of Nigerian economy Agriculture in Nigeria is smallholder farming. The smallholder farmer is therefore important to the Nigerian economy just like it is important to the African economy.
But growth and competitiveness in the agricultural sector in Nigeria have been disappointing. Over the past two decades, value added per capita in agriculture has risen by less than one percent per year. Food production gains have not kept pace with population growth, resulting in rising food imports and declining levels of national food self-sufficiency. It is therefore essential that the smallholder farmer should get the unflinching support of government, as well as the private sector in its effort to feed the nation.
Not too long ago, the European Union pledged £792 million (N184.2 billion) in unused farm subsidies to African farmers to help aid the global food crisis. Soaring food prices and the political turmoil in Zimbabwe were high on the agenda at the three-day summit of G8 leaders in northern Japan.
The G8 - the US, Japan, France, Britain, Germany, Canada, Italy and Russia - invited the leaders of Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania to join the opening day of talks, held on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said: “The EU really can give a boost to agriculture in developing countries.” In 2005, the G8 agreed to double aid to Africa by 2010, as part of a wider drive to alleviate global poverty, but a compliance panel has found that under current spending plans the group will fall £20 billion (N4.7 trillion) short of its target.
The World Bank has previously estimated that about £5 billion (N1.2 trillion) is needed in short-term aid to help poor countries face the global food and fuel price crisis. Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy accounts for over 40 billion euros (£32 billion, N7.4 trillion) a year in subsidies and other farm spending, and some development campaigners have long criticised the subsidies as damaging for poor countries unable to compete.
Only recently, AGRA and a list of Rome-based UN agencies partnered to boost food production in Africa. The historic partnership among key players in agricultural development, according to a document received by BusinessDay from AGRA, aimed to significantly boost food production in Africa’s “breadbasket regions,” link local food production to food needs, and work across Africa’s major agricultural growing areas - or agro-ecological zones - to create opportunities for smallholder farmers.
IFAD president, Kanayo F. Nwanze, noted that the Fund, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of United Nations (FAO), is extending its programme to distribute seeds and farming tools to the 15,000 rural Haitian households, who are ready for the planting season which begins in March.
Addressing his first governing council as IFAD president, Nwanze reported on the Fund’s progress in 2009, and emphasised that creating the right business environment for smallholder farmers was the key to eradicating poverty.
“Agriculture must be seen as a business, whatever its size,” he noted. Jacques Diouf, director-general of FAO, addressed the governing council and Amir Mahmoud Abdulla, deputy executive director and chief operating officer of the World Food Programme (WFP), delivered a message on behalf of Josette Sheeran, WFP executive director.
They both emphasised that the moment has come for resolute action, and indicated that now more than ever, the three Rome-based agencies are united and determined to improve the living conditions of small farmers in developing countries and ensure sustainable agricultural development.